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I first heard about One HealthTech in a roundabout sort of way, as the best things often start out! I had volunteered to be involved in planning a TED-style conference to highlight the work of Clinical Scientists in the NHS South West area. While researching what our event might involve, the organisers of TEDxNHS mentioned a One HealthTech (OHT) Bristol event and promptly put me in touch with the team leaders.
It came at a pivotal time for me. I was a year off finishing my Clinical Scientist Training at North Bristol NHS Trust and was starting to think seriously about what I wanted to do next – and feeling pretty lost. I knew I wanted to stay in Health Technology and (ideally) in Bristol, but was struggling to know what that could look like. Being aware of OHT Bristol gave me a real boost.
I was really pleased to see that their first event for 2019 was on Mentoring in HealthTech, and I caught up with some familiar faces as well as meeting lots of new ones there. I got a thoroughly warm welcome from Sally, had lots of interesting conversations, and gained useful insights from the speakers. For the speed mentoring section of the event I was paired with an experienced lady who worked for the CCG in IT project management. It was encouraging to hear and see many different people with careers in the same industry I wanted to be in, but involved in such varied ways. I came across clinicians, communicators, incubation managers and project managers working in organisations such as the AHSN (Academic Health Science Network) or in software companies, all with equal amounts of enthusiasm. From this I was also able to support someone I was mentoring with the contacts I made at the event.
From that first event I felt much more aware of the health tech community in Bristol. I attended the Neuromodulation in HealthTech event in April 2019 and then (after a hectic summer) the UK Health Camp in Newport after seeing it advertised by OHT Bristol. I also became more aware of the work done by the AHSN, as well as other health tech companies locally. All of this gave me a much better idea of my options when it came to making a decision about what I wanted to do post-training. And I gained a network that I called on to help make opportunities happen.
Being part of OHT Bristol helps me find out what’s going on within health tech and remain connected with a community which sometimes seems hidden, but is very much around me.
After gaining so much from my experiences with OHT Bristol, it made sense for me to volunteer and give back. I want to help grow the community in order to help others like me, and I’m looking forward to being more involved, learning more, and bringing together like-minded people into our welcoming, informative community.
Could you be our next new team member?
We still have space for a few more volunteer team members in OHT Bristol, especially around event and community promotion, event management, connecting with underrepresented groups, and being an advocate within the NHS or universities.
Do you…
…have bags of enthusiasm?
…consider yourself a self-starter?
…think you get what we’re trying to do…?
Then you could help others and get heaps of benefit yourself from being connected to our impressive network of leaders and our 12,000+ contributors.
Find out more at bristol@onehealthtech.com or track down one of the team at our next event, AI in Health & Care – How do we innovate responsibly, on 6 November.